JACQUI ADAM was at her wits’ end. She weighed more than 23 stone, was desperately depressed and couldn’t bear to leave her Greenock home.

“I felt like an old woman.

“I couldn’t walk upstairs in my own house without feeling exhausted,” said Jacqui.

Yet now, less than two years on, she’s virtually unrecognisable as the same troubled woman. Almost 10 stone lighter, she’s often to be found training for sporting events.

Jacqui’s transformation began with a meeting that she admits was “clutching at straws” and which she was certain would lead to another failure.

Reluctantly, she had gone to see hypnotherapist Lyn Lyons to discuss a virtual gastric band operation, in the certain knowledge that it wouldn’t work.

In gastric band surgery, the capacity of a patient’s stomach is reduced when an adjustable band is inserted under anaesthetic.

The outcome means the patient can only eat small meals and will lose weight. However, the surgery is costly and carries some risks.

With a virtual gastric band, the patient is hypnotised into believing they have undergone the surgery and can only eat reduced quantities. They are also ‘reprogrammed’ to make healthier choices. It’s a cheaper and safer alternative to surgery.

“I felt as if I was beyond help. And I didn’t think this would work.

“I had nothing to lose so I thought I’d give it a go, but I doubted it would really do any good,” explained Jacqui.

“Even after the first session, I didn’t believe it would work.”

Virtual gastric band patients see Lyn for four sessions, the third of which is the ‘operation’.

At her consulting rooms near Houston, Renfrewshire, Lyn prepares her patient as if they were actually going under the knife. On the operation day, they arrive to find her in surgical scrubs and a whiff of disinfectant in the air.

“I lay down and Lyn hypnotised me into believing I was getting an operation. Afterwards, I had a very strange feeling that I couldn’t swallow. It went away, but everything changed from that day,” said Jacqui.

The NHS 24 service support administrator was delighted to start losing weight immediately.

Overnight, she replaced the fatty, sugary food she had been bingeing on with healthy alternatives, and the first few stones fell away quite quickly.

She started to enjoy watching her progress on the scales and began to trust the process.

Previously she didn’t eat fish or drink any kind of tea, and she found she regularly wanted sushi and green tea.

She said: “I’ve not had a bit of chocolate since then. It’s the strangest feeling because chocolate used to be my thing. I just don’t want to have it at all now. And I don’t have pudding now, or crisps.”

“I just began eating smaller portions and everything I was choosing was healthy stuff.

“But I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself at all. I still have Chinese food and go out for meals, I just choose something healthy.

“If I’m going out for something to eat, I have to look at the menu for quite a long time to find something healthy. I might have fish and potatoes, but without any butter.”

This new way of living is a revelation for Jacqui, 41, because it’s not a diet – it’s simply making healthy choices all the time.

“I don’t have to make an effort at this. It’s so different and it’s not going to stop.

“I’m going to be eating healthily forever,” she added.

Heavy since childhood, over the years Jacqui has tried just about every diet there is. Sometimes she achieved a little, by losing a couple of stone for a while, but inevitably, she regained the weight and added to it.